Source: 12 books for Earth Day » Yale Climate Connections
Eco-Types: Five Ways of Caring about the Environment by Emily Huddart Kennedy
(Princeton University Press 2022, 280 pages, $33.00) Drawing on three years of interviews and research, Kennedy describes five archetypal relationships with the environment: the Eco-Engaged, often politically liberal, who have an acute level of concern about the environment and the conviction that an individual can make a difference; the Self-Effacing, who share the Eco-Engaged’s concerns but not the belief in their own efficacy; the Optimists, often politically conservative, who doubt the severity of environmental problems and resent insinuations that they don’t care; the Fatalists, who are pessimistic about environmental decline and feel little responsibility; and the Indifferent, who have no affinity for any part of the environmental movement. If we are serious about protecting the planet, we must acknowledge that we don’t all care about the environment in the same way.
Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility by Martha C. Nussbaum (Simon & Schuster 2022, 400 pages, $28.99)
The world needs an ethical awakening. In Justice for Animals, one of the world’s most influential philosophers and humanists, Martha C. Nussbaum, provides a revolutionary approach to animal rights, ethics, and law. From dolphins to crows, elephants to octopuses, Nussbaum examines the entire animal kingdom, showcasing the lives of animals with wonder, awe, and compassion to understand how we can create a world in which human beings are truly friends of animals, not exploiters or users. Humans have a collective duty to face and solve animal harm. An urgent call to action and a manual for change, Nussbaum’s groundbreaking theory directs politics and law to help us meet our ethical responsibilities as no book has done before.
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